


You Can't Hurt the Mountain

by WinterWidow94



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 06:45:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3758350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterWidow94/pseuds/WinterWidow94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Skye overhears Raina telling Gordon about a disturbing vision, Skye decides to leave Afterlife and save her friends - but has no idea how complicated the situation has become.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

The days turned into one week, then two. Skye and Jaiying kept their blood tie a secret, and Skye learned how to do more than play musical cups. (“Although,” she said, “it’s great to have something in common with Miss Congeniality other than the ability to shoot people.” That had made Jaiying smile, even though she did not understand the movie reference.) Skye was learning to be aware of the vibrations surrounding her all the time, not just when she focused. Slowly it was growing familiar, becoming something she could notice at any given time.   
When Jaiying asked what it felt like, Skye said, “It’s like…white noise. Except I’m trying to turn this white noise something I can hear and understand. It’s like I’m eavesdropping on everything.”  
Eavesdropping was a literal term for it, sometimes – Skye had realized that if she concentrated hard enough, she could sometimes hear voices through walls. They were faint and shaky and SHIELD tech would have done a much better job, but she could pull snatches of conversation out. Occasionally it was funny – like when she overheard Lincoln telling a joke to the backpacker guy (who had come back from his trip sunburned and grinning like an idiot) – and sometimes it was embarrassing, like when she found out that Page and Kevin, two more wannabe-powered-people were apparently an item.  
She felt, for the first time since she had touched the crystal that had caused this whole mess, that she was getting a handle on her power. She still didn’t have the guts to call it a ‘gift,’ but at least she had stopped seeing it as a curse. On her sixth day there – the last time she had called it a curse – Jaiying’s eyes had narrowed. She had picked up a rock (again with the rocks, Skye thought) and demanded to know, “Is this rock evil?”  
Skye had blinked. “Um, no? It’s a rock.”  
“And if I threw it at your head in an attempt to render you unconscious, or even kill you?”  
This was unexpected. “Uh, then you would have anger issues?”  
“Exactly.” Jaiying’s face had softened, and she had let the rock fall to the ground. “It is amoral. Whether it is used to build something or to strike someone down, that is up to whoever picks it up. It’s the person who holds the stone who is responsible for how they use it. Your power is neither good nor evil, Skye. You are.”  
Now she lay in bed thinking about that conversation, curling her fingers to her palms and listening to the constant hum of everything around her. It was amazing, how all something had to do was exist, in order to make that noise. Everyone at Afterlife had a different sort of vibration – she had taken to calling them ‘frequencies’ to avoid sounding awkward. Jaiying’s frequency was calming, so placid it was almost nonexistent, like the surface of a still lake. Lincoln’s frequency was like static, which made perfect sense, considering all the electricity crackling inside him.   
When she had first tested Gordon’s frequency, she had expected to find another placid lake, like Jaiying. She had been surprised to discover something louder and more overwhelming, the roar of a waterfall. It didn’t seem to match his calm, not that frequencies really reflected personalities.   
She had meant to ask him about it – he wouldn’t mind her questions, he never did – but it seemed kind of personal, so she hadn’t. In fact, she had a slew of questions for him – how did teleportation work? How exactly did he see without eyes? How did he know where to teleport? How could he find anyone he wanted, anywhere in the world? How had he heard her when she asked him for help, back at the safe house?  
“Oh, forget it.” She sat up, groaning at her own inability to sleep. Many of her nights were plagued by insomnia – but, she grudgingly reminded herself, at least she wasn’t as bad as Raina. She hadn’t seen Raina in two weeks, not since the day she had met Jaiying.   
Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Cal, either – not since they’d all had dinner together, as a family. It was the only good memory she had of Cal, and it was…pretty wonderful, actually. Like things should have been. Like she’d always imagined family would be.   
Jaiying had promised to have Cal sent away, which meant Gordon had taken him elsewhere... “Darn it, another question for Gordon,” she sighed, pulling on her robe. It was silk, screen-printed with cherry blossoms. Miraculously, the temperature on this mountain was always pretty perfect – most days were in the mid-seventies, and the nights were in the upper sixties. She wondered if Gordon had mail-ordered the weather, and where he’d picked it up.  
Grinning, she pulled back her door and padded down the hall as silently as she could. Most of the rooms were surprisingly sound-proof, considering the fact they were made of paper, but a few of the guests there left their doors open at night.   
There was a shortcut to the kitchen if you went through the courtyard, but she liked sneaking outside at night. The Skye was crisp and black, and there were more stars visible than she had ever seen before in her life. It was a view that never got old and more than once she had stopped to gaze up and forgotten what she came outside for.  
Tonight, a nearby light dimmed the view a little, and Skye walked farther down the path to see where it was coming from. She stopped when she saw Raina’s hut. The door was open, and a light was on inside. She glanced back toward the main house before gritting her teeth and hurrying toward the hut.   
She had no sooner reached the door than she heard Raina’s voice, low and snarling, say, “It would serve her right. The little bitch deserves to feel some of my pain.”  
For reasons she could not exactly pinpoint, she had zero doubt that Raina was talking about her.  
The next voice she heard was Gordon’s, soothing and mild. “That decision is not up to you. Now tell me what you saw.”  
“Why should I? To save Skye a few tears? To keep your precious protégée’s feelings from being hurt?”  
“Raina,” Gordon began, but he was interrupted.  
“Why does everyone always love her so much? I never understood it. I was prettier than her. I was more obedient than her. I did everything and she did nothing, and somehow she gets the reward while I get...” Her voice broke, caught on a sob.   
Skye felt a small twinge of sympathy in spite of herself.  
“I saw Coulson,” Raina continued, after a moment of silence. “In prison.”  
“And do you know why?” asked Gordon patiently.  
“No. It was a SHIELD prison, though. It had that stupid eagle symbol on the wall.”  
Someone shifted, standing up, and Skye stepped back, farther into the shadows. She hugged herself, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. How had Raina seen Coulson in prison? And why-  
Raina spoke again, her voice tired with bitterness. “Are you going to tell her?”  
Gordon did not answer her question. Instead he said, “Thank you for telling me what you saw. I know it wasn’t easy.”  
There was the sound of gentle sobbing, and the light turned off. Skye stepped farther into the shadows, around the corner of the building, and prayed Gordon didn’t hear or see her. She heard him come out of the hut and close the door behind him. He took a few steps – then stopped.  
Her heart stopped hammering and went totally silent.  
She squeezed her eyes shut.  
What excuse was she going to come up with? This was too far down the path to be heading to the kitchen, she didn’t sleepwalk, and she had a decent sense of direction…  
She heard his footsteps again, moving away from the building, away from her.  
She opened her eyes and swallowed her relief.  
Coulson was in trouble. She had to do something.   
 


	2. two

She had never had a lot to call her own at any given time, and the present was no exception. Skye slipped back into her room and quickly changed out of her pajamas. The weather on this mountain should be no problem, but she honestly had no idea how far she had to hike…  
She pulled her shirt over her head. Then she paused, and sank onto the bed. She had to figure this out. Running off into an unknown land with no clue as to where she was and people who would look for her…there had to be a smarter way to do this.  
Gordon sometimes took people out of Afterlife and into the real world, right? She could get him to take her somewhere else and she could slip away while he wasn’t looking, in a city somewhere. Somewhere she was more familiar with, or at least some place that wasn’t ‘the middle of nowhere.’  
Skye pushed her hands through her hair.   
What was up with Raina? How did she know? Gordon seemed to believe she was telling the truth, and if Coulson had been incarcerated, it had to be by the other SHIELD, the one threatening her team.   
The team she had abandoned.   
What gave her the right to leave them behind like that?  
You thought you were protecting them, her mind whispered.  
She didn’t even believe herself.  
“Great,” she said softly, flopping back on her bed and staring at the ceiling.   
Tomorrow she had to ruin everything.

She poked her fork nervously at her plate, scanning the dining room. She hadn’t seen Gordon yet that morning – chances were good he was with Raina. From what she could gather, Raina was something of a problem child that Gordon was determined to help.  
“Hey!”   
Startled back to the present moment, Skye blinked as Lincoln sat down across the table from her, his plate piled with strawberry salad, scrambled eggs, and hash browns.   
“Hey yourself,” she responded, then noticed he was looking intently at her plate. “What?”  
“Have you actually eaten anything?”  
She glanced at the food scattered under her fork. “Oh – uh, no. I’m not really that hungry this morning, I guess.”  
“You didn’t get any of the strawberry salad.”  
“Salad for breakfast? That’s a little too hipster for me. I got coffee though,” she said, lifting her cup of caffeine pointedly before taking a sip. It was still warm, at least.  
“I could heat that up for you,” Lincoln offered, gesturing at her cup with his fork.  
“Oh.” She set it down and lifted her hands away. “Knock yourself out.”  
He grinned and leaned across the table, holding his finger just above the surface of her coffee. A little electric jolt, and steam wafted into the air.   
Skye took a sip and nearly burned her lips. “That’s really hot.” She smiled. “Thanks.”  
“Ah, no problem.” He waved a hand, but she noticed he continued to watch her, his expression growing more puzzled with each minute. “Okay,” she said finally. “What is it?”  
“You still haven’t eaten anything.”  
“Like I said, I’m not really hungry.”  
“Are you looking for someone?”   
She pulled her gaze away from the door. “Nope.”  
“You know, you don’t have to lie to your friends.”  
She speared a piece of cold egg and put it in her mouth. “Are we friends now? Like, officially?”  
His mouth quirked. “Yeah. I’m your friend, which means that you can tell me things. Like what’s really bothering you, for example.”  
He thought they were friends. Maybe they were – almost, or they could be, if she wasn’t leaving. She had already abandoned her family – she couldn’t do the same to a friend. She had to stop thinking like this, thinking she could have everything she’d ever wanted. She had to pick a side.  
“I was just hoping Gordon could take me somewhere after breakfast, but I haven’t seen him yet.” She gave him a disarming smile and reached over, plucking a strawberry from his plate. He grabbed for it, but she ate it before he could retrieve it.   
He shook his head once in defeat. “Where do you want to go? Just out of curiosity, I mean. Not to be nosy.”  
“Anywhere would be good. I want to see people. Buildings would be cool, maybe smell a little fast food.” She smiled.  
The last time she had lied like this, Grant Ward had been sitting across the table from her.   
“I don’t know if he has anything on his schedule this morning.” Lincoln shrugged. “I do know he’s got some visit this afternoon, but hey. He might be free.”  
“Where is he now?”   
Lincoln gave her a brief glance. It looked like he was about to give her a straight answer, but after a second he only said, “I’m sure he’s around somewhere.”  
Skye rolled her eyes. “You mean he’s with Raina.”  
“I was going to say that, but her name seems to bring out the Hyde in you, Doctor Jekyll.”  
“That once!” she protested, but she knew he was right. “I’m better now.”  
His eyebrows rose. “Uh-huh.”  
“Just because she makes me mad doesn’t mean I hate her.”  
“Uh-huh.”  
“Oh, stop it.” Skye straightened when she saw Gordon walk into the dining room. “There he is.”  
“Go talk to him. Your breakfast probably can’t get any colder.”  
She gave her plate an apologetic smile and stood up. “Thanks. Sorry for being bad company.”  
“Ah, you were fine.” He waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Besides, a chat with the Warden should cheer you up.”  
She grinned. “Have a good…breakfast,” she added, before crossing the room. Gordon turned around to face her before she had quite reached him.  
“Skye,” he said, with typical mild affability.  
She lifted a fist and lowered it, at a loss for words. “You have got to tell me how you do that. Every time – I’m impressed.”  
“I’m glad you’re impressed, but it’s hardly earth-shattering.”  
She hoped he wasn’t referring to what she had filed away under the label ‘Incident,’ when three days ago she had broken a large rock loose from somewhere and sent it rolling toward the temple. Gordon had chased it down and teleported it to an undisclosed location, and come back relatively unscathed.   
His only comment had been a somewhat wry, “That was close.”  
She cleared her throat. “So look, um…” Then she winced. Every time she used any word associated with ‘seeing,’ ‘eyes,’ or anything visual, she felt self-conscious. She knew Gordon had heard these things since he was a kid, so for like – a long time – but nothing did a better job of throwing an awkward wrench into conversations.  
“Yes?” Gordon prompted.  
“Uh, are you busy this morning?”  
“That depends.”  
Frequently, she couldn’t tell whether or not he was joking. The lack of eyes helped. “I...I just really miss being out in the world, you know? I was wondering if I could have just – half an hour in a city somewhere. Get a frappuccino or something.” She watched him process her request and shifted from foot to foot.  
Apparently, he had no plans to mention the conversation she had overheard the night before.  
Secrets. Maybe Bobbi was right, and keeping secrets was wrong. Especially when she had every right to be aware of those secrets. Especially if Coulson was locked up somewhere -   
“I don’t see why not. It’ll be in about half an hour, does that seem all right to you?”  
She tried not to let her relief carry her away into the realm of overexcitement. “Yeah, half hour is fine. Thanks so much, Gordon. Really.”  
“Don’t mention it. I have to talk with Jaiying, but I’ll meet you in the courtyard later, all right?”  
She nodded. “Kay. Good.”  
He smiled and turned away, walking toward the opposite side of the dining hall where Jaiying had entered as they spoke.  
She blew out a deep breath and rubbed her hands together, nervous tension building inside her. Slowly she relaxed. Quaking in the dining room was a terrible idea – and she’d already broken half the glassware.   
She hoped Gordon wouldn’t get in too much trouble for this.


End file.
